Rand Paul interviewed by David Weigel on McChrystal and BP

David Weigel's last blog post for The Washington Post  in his Right Now section (RN) consisted of an interview with Rand Paul, the GOP candidate for the Kentucky Senate. Apparently still chaffing from his public flogging over comments on the Civil Rights Amendment, Rand Paul was eager to steer clear of any statement that could be interpreted as support for British Petroleum (BP) or Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation / President Obama sacking on Wednesday.

Rand Paul cleans up

Already called a "wacky guy" in this space for his civil rights law comments...



...Rand Paul recently came under much more fire for accusing President Obama of being "un-American" for criticizing BP. Apparently already pained from the scar tissue developed over his incendiary comments, Rand Paul walked on eggshells with David Weigel about McChrystal and about the BP Escrow Fund. Weigel tried his best to pull a straight answer our of Paul at his fundraiser. Witness:

Rand Paul 

RN: Do you agree with the president's decision to accept Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation?

PAUL: Ultimately it is the prerogative of the president to decide who his generals are. My first thought was, going back to the historic controversy between Truman and MacArthur, but the thing is I'm not sure I'd call this insubordination, but he had a public disagreement and I think -- I don't think anybody questions that it's the prerogative of president, whether it's a small or big disagreement, to decide who generals are at the top level. I haven't read all his comments nothing specific to say.

RN: You've started to take heat for your approach to the BP escrow fund. Do you support the fund, the way it's set up?

PAUL: Well, I don't think there are many people who don't believe in any regulations, myself included, and even my dad -- I don't think you'll hear him say he doesn't believe in any regulation. But I'm not sure I have the answer to that, sincerely. I think everyone in the country wants BP to pay for the clean-up, myself concluded. I've never had any argument with that -- it's amazing how you say things and they get blown into things you didn't say! I'm not even sure I can talk to some people anymore because they take things out of context.

Paul went on to dodge and weave around Weigel. Paul never addresses the question of whether he supports the fund or not. Rand Paul's dancing now will eventually damage him when he faces his Democratic opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. (Conway himself has to deal with that $9,600 contribution from BP, so he's not totally in the clear, here.)

Rand Paul's knee-jerk desire to give a controversial spin on issues of the day will harm him in two ways: 1, by making the statements, and 2, by sounding less than honest when he tries to avoid making such statements. In short, he's trapped within himself.

David Weigel resigned

Unfortunately David Weigel quit The Washington Post for, well, being too libertarian. I'm liberal but feel for Weigel not being with an organization who gets that New Media, in this case blogging, is edgy and challenging in its approach. Bloggers are supposed to be opinionated and attacking without being malicious. It seemed Weigel was walking that path, and switching his hat to pure journalism. But emails to his more liberal co-workers were used to do him in and that's really too bad. I hope he resurfaces sooner rather than later.